3 ms·

I don't understand what they did wrong exactly. They had the legit rights over the content and they offered actual pirates to settle instead of litigating, to w

by throwaway1906 7y ago

I don't understand what they did wrong exactly. They had the legit rights over the content and they offered actual pirates to settle instead of litigating, to which they agreed. Where is the scam?

pfdietz 7y ago
Putting it up for download voids those rights (equitable estoppel, clean hands doctrine). Concealing that they had done that was outright fraud on the court. (EDIT: note that I am not a lawyer. Consult a lawyer if this would actually materially affect you.)
Twirrim 7y ago
There's a lot of nuance not even remotely touched on in that short article on The Register. To accurately cover the Prenda Law fiasco you really have to go deep down the rabbit hole. There's deliberate fraud, inaccurate targeting, shoddy discovery mechanisms, _numerous_ counts of lying to the court, misrepresentation, etc. For example, they formed shell companies in other people's names, with forged signatures. Those shell companies were the ones that bought the rights to the movies, then uploaded them to pirate bay etc. to be stolen (itself an illegal act). Those shell companies they created then used Prenda Law as the legal firm, without disclosing the financial ties to the shell company. They used a spray-and-pray attempt through the courts to force ISPs to reveal IP addresses of those downloading the pornographic content (even though that's not entirely accurate), and instead of suing for actual damages, sued for nuisance amounts of money. Popehat have extensive blow-by-blow coverage here: https://www.popehat.com/tag/prenda-law/ https://www.popehat.com/tag/prenda-law/ (this has been a long drawn out saga over most of a decade). Arstechnica's article for today's news gives a bunch more bits of background detail: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/06/porn-trolling-mastermind-paul-hansmeier-gets-14-years-in-prison/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/06/porn-trolling-ma... There's a particularly good excerpt of the court findings (https://www.scribd.com/document/139843902/Prenda-Sanctions-Order https://www.scribd.com/document/139843902/Prenda-Sanctions-O...) by one judge in one of the arstechnica articles: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/prenda-hammered-judge-sends-porn-trolling-lawyers-to-criminal-investigators/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/prenda-hammered-... * Prenda shell companies like AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13 were created "for the sole purpose of litigating copyright-infringement lawsuits." They have no assets other than the pornographic movies they sue over. And despite their legal trickery using offshore vehicles, "the Principals [Steele, Hansmeier, and Paul Duffy] are the de facto owners and officers." * Their strategy of identifying IP numbers, issuing subpoenas to ISPs, and sending demand letters offering to settle for about $4,000 "was highly successful because of statutory-copyright damages, the pornographic subject matter, and the high cost of litigation." Steele, Hansmeier and Duffy got "proceeds of millions of dollars due to the numerosity of Defendants." And Wright added, "No taxes have been paid on this income." * The Prenda lawyers engaged in "vexatious litigation designed to coerce settlement." They showed little desire to actually fight when a "determined defendant" showed up. "Instead of litigating, they dismiss the case," notes Wright. "When pressed for discovery, the Principals offer only disinformation—even to the Court." * Local California lawyer Brett Gibbs sued on behalf of Prenda and then tried to back away from their scheme to testify against them, but he's still in trouble. Wright states, "Though Gibbs is culpable for his own conduct before the Court, the Principals directed his actions. In some instances, Gibbs operated within narrow parameters given to him by the Principals, whom he called 'senior attorneys.'" * Finally, the allegations of identity theft look legitimate. Steele, Hansmeier, and Duffy conspired to fraudulently sign the copyright assignment for the adult movie Popular Demand using Alan Cooper's signature, pretending he was an officer of AF Holdings. * Wright concludes: "Plaintiffs’ representations about their operations, relationships, and financial interests have varied from feigned ignorance to misstatements to outright lies. But this deception was calculated so that the Court would grant Plaintiffs’ early-discovery requests, thereby allowing Plaintiffs to identify defendants and exact settlement proceeds from them. With these granted requests, Plaintiffs borrow the authority of the Court to pressure settlement."

I don't understand what they did wrong exactly. They had the legit rights over the content and they offered actual pirates to settle instead of litigating, to which they agreed. Where is the scam?

pfdietz 7y ago

Putting it up for download voids those rights (equitable estoppel, clean hands doctrine). Concealing that they had done that was outright fraud on the court. (EDIT: note that I am not a lawyer. Consult a lawyer if this would actually materially affect you.)

Twirrim 7y ago

There's a lot of nuance not even remotely touched on in that short article on The Register. To accurately cover the Prenda Law fiasco you really have to go deep down the rabbit hole. There's deliberate fraud, inaccurate targeting, shoddy discovery mechanisms, _numerous_ counts of lying to the court, misrepresentation, etc. For example, they formed shell companies in other people's names, with forged signatures. Those shell companies were the ones that bought the rights to the movies, then uploaded them to pirate bay etc. to be stolen (itself an illegal act). Those shell companies they created then used Prenda Law as the legal firm, without disclosing the financial ties to the shell company. They used a spray-and-pray attempt through the courts to force ISPs to reveal IP addresses of those downloading the pornographic content (even though that's not entirely accurate), and instead of suing for actual damages, sued for nuisance amounts of money. Popehat have extensive blow-by-blow coverage here: https://www.popehat.com/tag/prenda-law/ https://www.popehat.com/tag/prenda-law/ (this has been a long drawn out saga over most of a decade). Arstechnica's article for today's news gives a bunch more bits of background detail: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/06/porn-trolling-mastermind-paul-hansmeier-gets-14-years-in-prison/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/06/porn-trolling-ma... There's a particularly good excerpt of the court findings (https://www.scribd.com/document/139843902/Prenda-Sanctions-Order https://www.scribd.com/document/139843902/Prenda-Sanctions-O...) by one judge in one of the arstechnica articles: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/prenda-hammered-judge-sends-porn-trolling-lawyers-to-criminal-investigators/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/prenda-hammered-... * Prenda shell companies like AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13 were created "for the sole purpose of litigating copyright-infringement lawsuits." They have no assets other than the pornographic movies they sue over. And despite their legal trickery using offshore vehicles, "the Principals [Steele, Hansmeier, and Paul Duffy] are the de facto owners and officers." * Their strategy of identifying IP numbers, issuing subpoenas to ISPs, and sending demand letters offering to settle for about $4,000 "was highly successful because of statutory-copyright damages, the pornographic subject matter, and the high cost of litigation." Steele, Hansmeier and Duffy got "proceeds of millions of dollars due to the numerosity of Defendants." And Wright added, "No taxes have been paid on this income." * The Prenda lawyers engaged in "vexatious litigation designed to coerce settlement." They showed little desire to actually fight when a "determined defendant" showed up. "Instead of litigating, they dismiss the case," notes Wright. "When pressed for discovery, the Principals offer only disinformation—even to the Court." * Local California lawyer Brett Gibbs sued on behalf of Prenda and then tried to back away from their scheme to testify against them, but he's still in trouble. Wright states, "Though Gibbs is culpable for his own conduct before the Court, the Principals directed his actions. In some instances, Gibbs operated within narrow parameters given to him by the Principals, whom he called 'senior attorneys.'" * Finally, the allegations of identity theft look legitimate. Steele, Hansmeier, and Duffy conspired to fraudulently sign the copyright assignment for the adult movie Popular Demand using Alan Cooper's signature, pretending he was an officer of AF Holdings. * Wright concludes: "Plaintiffs’ representations about their operations, relationships, and financial interests have varied from feigned ignorance to misstatements to outright lies. But this deception was calculated so that the Court would grant Plaintiffs’ early-discovery requests, thereby allowing Plaintiffs to identify defendants and exact settlement proceeds from them. With these granted requests, Plaintiffs borrow the authority of the Court to pressure settlement."